


The Glassesed Ones

by shewasjustagirl



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Glasses, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 08:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12339507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewasjustagirl/pseuds/shewasjustagirl
Summary: Rhett needs glasses, and when stealing Link's isn't working anymore, Link convinces him to get his own pair.





	The Glassesed Ones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RileyRooin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RileyRooin/gifts).



> Written as a gift for [RileyRooin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RileyRooin/pseuds/RileyRooin) for my 100 follower giveaway. You can also find her on [Tumblr](http://rileyrooin.tumblr.com/).
> 
> She gave me the prompts: Rhett in Link’s glasses, Rhett’s love of food, Public displays of affection, Link speaking without thinking. I loved it, and I did my best to include each of them. <3

“Gimme those,” the tall, thin man stood from his place on the low couch, rubbing his back with a good-natured groan. CNN was bringing the day’s world news into the large two-man office, and he’d been unable to read the ticker across the bottom without squinting.

“Give you what?” The salt-and-pepper head of a slimmer man turned just in time to have the glasses perched on his nose snatched off.

“Thanks, buddyroll.”

The comment was met only with an annoyed grunt and a hand extended from the desk in a “give it here” motion. “Rhett, come on. I’m trying to work. You know I’ll get a headache without them.”

Rhett seemed unconcerned as he placed a scratchy, bearded kiss on the other man’s now-glassesless brow. “It’s 6:30. Stop working and come sit with me.”

The last of the day’s sun streamed in the window above the sofa, drenching the room in the kind of soft, orange light that begs a body to give in to the ease of a comfortable evening. Rhett fit in perfectly in the scene, his skin glowing, his hair one with the sunbeams. His eyes danced behind the frames as he lowered himself onto the couch again and looked up toward the desk.

As the darker-haired man stole a glance back at his computer monitor, the edges of the words displayed there went wobbly. He heard the contented sigh from the sofa, Rhett’s long legs and back resting again on the couch, his toes stretching nearly to the far end even from his half-seated position, and he made up his mind. Work was over for the day.

“Link!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming! Just turning off my computer,” Link chuckled, shaking his head as he hurried to unplug his laptop and slide it into his backpack before joining Rhett on the couch.

Snuggled in close, the two men, the shorter of them over six feet tall and the other with another half a foot on him, were both comfortable there. They’d bought the wide leather sofa, the longest one they could find, after a painstaking search for a piece of office furniture the two of them could fit on together. 

Link was curled into Rhett, quiet and still at first, then teasing, tickling his fingers across Rhett’s middle and kissing at his neck. “Buddyroll, huh? Haven’t heard that one in a while.”

Rhett grinned under Link’s touch, squirming away a little as he kept his eyes on the news. “Mhmm.”

“You’re really staring down Anderson Cooper.”

Rhett’s eyes darted to Link’s for a second, squeezing his lips together as he investigated Link’s face. When the glint in his eyes confirmed that he was kidding, Rhett turned back to the tv, pulling Link in tighter with one arm across his waist. “Why aren’t you watching with me? You like Anderson Cooper more than I do.”

“Well, I might have watched, but someone took my glasses. So I’m just looking at things that are up close to me now.” Link returned Rhett’s squeeze and kissed his shoulder, breathing him in. They were silent for another moment, Link’s head resting on Rhett’s chest, before he broached the subject he’d been putting off for months. “You know, you’ve been stealing my glasses a lot lately. Why don’t you keep one of my old pairs in your desk or something?”

“Because I like bugging you,” Rhett smiled, leaning down into Link and kissing him on the nose and then the lips. “And when I steal these you usually come do this.”

“Uh huh,” Link murmured, nuzzling into Rhett’s neck and turning his hips in, throwing his leg across both of Rhett’s. He continued pressing the subject, his lips grazing Rhett’s ear. “But I think you need your own pair. You wanna go with me to the eye doctor soon?”

Rhett sighed, peeling his eyes away from the tv and pushing the frames up his nose. “Link. Baby. You know I don’t wanna get glasses.”

Link groaned, the sound deep in his chest, even as he smiled, shaking his head. “Why are you so stubborn?”

When Rhett smirked and turned his attention back to the news, Link rolled over onto him, pinning him down. He plucked the glasses off of Rhett’s face and slipped them back onto his own. “You can get glasses, or contacts, or lasik. But Rhett, _baby_ , you need to get checked out.” 

Rhett laughed as Link pressed his weight fully on top of him, finally cutting off any possibility he’d pay the news any more attention. For a moment he chewed his lip and stared Link down. Then a mischievous grin appeared. “You tryin’ to boss me around?”

“No, not bossy. You can set up your own appointment,” Link grinned broadly, his chin planted in Rhett’s chest. “I called Dr. Wong yesterday and asked if she had any time this week. She’s looking forward to hearing from you.”

“Wait, seriously?” 

“And until we go, I’m driving.” Link’s fingers picked up where they’d left off, teasing at Rhett’s sides until he was laughing, first from the tickling and then from the way Link dug through Rhett’s pockets, searching for his keys. He knew where they were. He could have found them in the dark, and he had, a time or two. 

“You know, while you’ve got your hands in there…” 

“I said,” Link crawled up Rhett’s body and planted both palms on his shoulders, pushing him down into the sofa. “I’m driving.”

 

“Ooh! There! Please!” Rhett pointed wildly from the passenger seat, indicating a billboard for a brand new promotional burger. Link was still driving, Rhett’s eye appointment set for the coming Saturday. He hesitated, his hand hovering over his turn signal. “I set out some chicken for dinner.” 

“We can eat that tomorrow, man!” 

Link hummed his uncertainty under his breath, but before Rhett finished his sentence, he was pulling off the highway. Rhett cheered and pumped his fists in the air when he realized Link was giving in. 

“It’s been so long. It’s going to be so good.” Rhett drawled, walking his fingers across Link’s shoulder and down the arm closest to him as they pulled in the parking lot. He removed his seatbelt and leaned over in Link’s ear. “Getting a little greasy is okay sometimes.”

“Why you gotta be like that about food?” Link laughed, nudging Rhett away and putting their SUV in park. “You realize you started this whole health food thing, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but,” Rhett grabbed Link’s arms around his biceps, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “It worked. Look how hot and strong you are now.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Link grinned. “You are too. Now let’s go buy the brand new heart attack burger.”

The young woman behind the counter smiled warmly as they walked in, clearly appreciating how little time they’d been spending in fast food joints. Link smiled and ordered the new burger, then stepped aside as Rhett did the same and paid for their order. When the young woman brought their food to the table, her smile faltered. The two men were holding hands, sitting next to each other in the booth, Rhett’s left hand in Link’s right. Link winked and thanked her as Rhett took the food and spread it in front of them, pouring both orders of french fries onto their tray, knowing Link would let him eat most of them. 

“I can’t believe you’re actually trying this one. It’s got habanero mayo and jalapeños on it.” 

“You know there’s nothing I’m scared to put in my mouth,” Link said, demonstrating his point by taking a wide-mouthed bite that covered nearly a quarter of the sandwich.

Rhett watched, an eyebrow cocked up at Link’s words. “I do know that,” he grinned. 

What would have been “Shut up!” came muffled through Link’s lips as he laughed and fanned his face, trying to finish chewing the bite so he could drink something to cool his mouth. The combination of peppers put the burger just on the verge of intolerable. Rhett reached over with a napkin, waggling his eyebrows as he wiped mayo from Link’s mouth and handed him his Coke.

Rhett took his first bite and the edges of his mouth turned up in rapture. “I knew it!” he mumbled, his mouth still full. “It’s so good.”

Link shook his head, eating a few fries and eyeing Rhett as he devoured first his burger and then finished Link’s. “You’re like a little kid.”

“I’m just happy, man. Don’t harsh my mellow.” Rhett grinned, picking up his phone as he shoved a handful of fries into his mouth. “Ugh, I need to turn off Twitter notifications.”

“You keep subscribing to people who tweet the news, what do you expect? It’s their job to say stuff all day.”

“Here, let me --” Rhett reached up to take Link’s glasses. 

Link swatted at Rhett’s incoming hand. “Stop that! They aren’t reading glasses.” When Rhett sulked, Link slid the fingers of one hand behind Rhett on the faux leather bench seat and across his back under his shirt, just skimming them under the waist of his jeans. “You want me to hold your phone out here?” Link held his free hand out nearly to the next table over. “Dr. Wong is going to make you get bifocals and I’m never ever going to stop teasing you about it.”

“You mean until you have to get some? How long has it been since you got new glasses?”

Link stuck his tongue out and winked, pulling the car keys from his pocket. “Come on, old man. I’ll drive you home.” 

 

Link was right, Dr. Wong was able to get Rhett in to see her that weekend. What he hadn’t prepared for was Rhett setting up an adjoining appointment for Link. 

In the waiting room early Saturday morning, Link sat with his head on Rhett’s shoulder. “I don’t want new glasses. I like these.”

Rhett chuckled, his shoulders bouncing Link’s head as he did. “I’m about to have to get glasses for the first time and you’re worried about having to change yours up?”

When Link only sighed, Rhett continued. “I bet they can just replace the lenses, bo, if that’s what you want. But you’re always scared of changing up your look, and it always works out. You remember the first pair you got?”

Link grinned and threaded his fingers through Rhett’s. He’d never forget that first appointment. 

_______________

Rhett had picked on him ceaselessly for days, joking that he’d always acted like a four eyes and that he should have known sooner that Link would need glasses. But when Link started trying on frames, everything had changed. Rhett got flirty. They’d been together for ten years, but as Link stood in front of a mirror on the wall of frames, Rhett acted as though he’d never seen Link’s face or his big blue eyes. 

Link caught Rhett’s eyes in the mirror through a set of prescriptionless frames. “Why’re you staring like that? They look that bad?”

“No, not at all.” Rhett’s tongue darted out to lick his lips as Link tried on another pair from the pile of similar-looking cheap plastic frames he’d assembled. “You should be excited about this. I’ve always had a thing for glasses, you know.” The last few words came out in a whisper, Rhett taking a half step toward Link as he, oblivious to Rhett’s advances, took one pair of frames from his face and replaced them with another. 

Link shook his head as Rhett nodded slowly at the thick-rimmed blue glasses Link tried on. “Well now you’ll have some. I mean, I’ll have some. We’ll have some?” 

“Mmm, you had it right the first time.” Rhett’s hands roamed from Link’s waist to his hips, ignorant of the sidelong glances from two women in the waiting room shielding their children’s soon-to-be-glasses-clad eyes. “I like those.”

“I’m not getting glasses that make this much of a statement,” Link frowned at himself in the mirror. I think I’m going with the little ones.”  
_______________

“I had no idea how much we’d work them into the brand,” Link smiled, turning to look up at Rhett and draw him into a tender kiss. “Why did I insist on buying those? I should have let you charge them to the company.”

 

After two young women ran first Rhett and then Link through the preliminary tests, dilating Rhett’s eyes and laughing as both men tried to brush off their nerves with bad jokes, they seated Rhett in one room and Link in another, telling Link the doctor would be in to see Rhett first. When he’d been waiting five minutes, Link texted Rhett. The doctor hadn’t been in to see him yet. 

Link poked his head into Rhett’s exam room, then slid through the door and pulled a cushioned stool up next to Rhett’s exam chair. He held up his index and middle fingers on one hand. “How many fingers do you see?”

“Har har,” Rhett smirked, taking Link’s extended hand in his own and squeezing it. After a moment, he pointed up to the screen projected into the mirror in front of him. “You know, this room reminds me of our first date.”

Link tilted his head in imitation of confusion. “This room reminds you of the Chili’s in Raleigh?”

“That wasn’t our first date!” Rhett leaned forward, his eyes wide. Link rolled his. 

“We’ve been through this. _That_ wasn’t our first date. _That_ was us feeling each other up in the back row of a movie theater. We almost got caught!”

Rhett looked down at their interlaced fingers and fiddled with the ring on Link’s left hand. “It would be too bad if anyone knew we were together.”

“Back then…” Link warned, the happy memory tinged with a heartache that had been dulled, but not wiped away, by the years. “That’s why our real first date was in Raleigh.”

“I think it counted as a date by the time we left the theater.” Rhett smiled softly, knowing just what memories had flashed through Link’s mind at the thought of being caught. He tugged lightly on Link’s hand and pulled him up off the stool toward him. “I was sitting here and it was dark just like this.”

“Uh huh. And I did something kind of like this,” Link grinned, stooping down onto Rhett, planting his knees on either side of his thighs. He leaned his body into Rhett’s and combed his fingers through dirty blond curls. “And then I kissed you.” 

Rhett tilted his neck up to meet Link’s lips. “You don’t have to say it,” Rhett smiled between kisses. “I started it.”

Dr. Wong cleared her throat as she walked through the door. “Um, Link, I think you’re supposed to be in 2.” 

A flush across Link’s skin and the apples of Rhett’s cheeks reacted immediately to her voice. Link hopped to his feet and slipped past her out the door. “Yep, thanks doc. Good luck old man!”

 

Link, wearing a pair of trial contacts, drove them home, Rhett adjusting the disposable black sunglasses his dilated eyes required as they passed through town. 

They went straight for the kitchen, the appointment having lasted longer than they expected, and Link topped each of two bowls of romaine lettuce with the last of their leftover chicken salad for a late lunch.

Across the kitchen’s island, Rhett pushed his new glasses up his nose. The bold grey and green frames complemented his eyes, and they made Link proud -- Rhett had learned from his early years of weak-willed spectacles and went directly to a more gutsy pair. Rhett’s fingertips skimmed over the arms of the frames and felt them out, his palms settling against his cheeks as he felt for their width.

“I told ya you have a big face,” Link teased. His hand flitted up to his eyes but found no glasses there to readjust. “Dang it!” 

“It’s a habit,” Rhett chuckled. “You’re going to be doing that a lot.”

Link walked around the island and sighed, handing Rhett a plate and leaving his own untouched. “What do you think I should do? I always thought I looked pretty good in my glasses.” 

Rhett made no attempt to clear the salad from his mouth before he spoke his muffled reply. “You look good all the time, babe.”

Link squinted, his head falling to the side. “That’s sweet. But you know what I mean. What should I do?”

“Well,” Rhett swallowed, took a quick sip of water, then imitated Link, pushing up his glasses with his index finger and thumb around one lens and putting on a cartoon nerd’s voice. “As the glassesed one, I am an expert on these matters.”

Link laughed and rolled his eyes as Rhett went on. 

“And all I’m saying is,” Rhett returned to his normal voice. “We can both wear glasses. Or you can wear them some days, if you feel like it. Or you can wear them as a fashion statement. Or you can wear them never. I’m with you either way.” He took another bite of his salad and added, “and you’re hot either way.”

 

That night, two men sat in bed, each wearing a pair of glasses, one set with bifocals and the other without. The smaller, darker-haired man snoozed, his phone in hand and glasses askew, as the other finished up a book.

Rhett grinned at the sleeping Link as he set down the book and took off his new glasses. He shook Link gently, stirring him just enough to pull him under the covers and into his chest. As he’d done many times in the nearly twenty years Link had been the bespectacled member of their pair, he removed the glasses from Link’s face, set them down, this time next to his own, and turned off the bedside lamp.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love any feedback! Your comments and kudos are very much appreciated! <3
> 
> And come find me on Tumblr as [clemwasjustagirl](http://clemwasjustagirl.tumblr.com/) if you're into that kind of thing.


End file.
